ONE DAY IN HEAVEN
by Kirbysbabe
Summary: Returning back to camp, Littlejohn meets Billy for the first time. He also meets someone special.


_Copyright: 08/16_

 _Fan-Fiction based on TV Show Combat! Copyright Selmur Production, Inc., ABC, Image Productions etc._ _Disclaimer: Combat! and its characters do not belong to me, t_ _his WWII story is a piece of fan-fiction_ _and I am not being compensated in any tangible way for this story._

ONE DAY IN HEAVEN

Jim Littlejohn* had been on the train for about an hour. He was grateful that no one had wanted to sit next to him. Being 6 foot 6 inches did have its advantages.

As he stared out the window, Jim felt a twinge of longing for home and family. An intense snowstorm had begun just minutes before and now he could barely see anything, much less the farms he had been admiring. Private Littlejohn was returning to camp after being home on a seven day furlough. He now sat watching the snow. He was glad that the clacking of the wheels against the railroad tracks was lulling him to sleep.

Littlejohn knew his solitary existence was ending as he opened his eyes to the sound of someone clearing their throat.

"Um, excuse me, um is this seat taken?"

Littlejohn straightened himself up to see a young man looking more like the abominable snowman standing over him. "Ah, no. Have a seat."

Littlejohn was amused at the sight of the man. He looked like a quickly melting snowman. The young man extended his hand. Jim grasped it, practically obliterating the other's hand.

"Hi my name is William Nelson. Everybody calls me Billy."

"Hi Billy, I'm James Littlejohn but you can call me Littlejohn."

"Hey, just like in Robin Hood, right? Where you from Littlejohn?"

"Yea, right just like Robin Hood." As if he hadn't heard that line for the millionth time.

"I'm from Springfield. It's a little town outside of Omaha."

"Where are you from Billy?"

"Well, I'm from St. Louis."

"What are you doing on this train?"

"It's sort of a long story Littlejohn or should I say a long train ride. I was doing okay until I got to Kansas City. I had to change trains and somehow I kinda got turned around and I ended up on the wrong train. So when I got to Omaha, the conductor straightened me out."

Littlejohn smiled inwardly. Why did it always happen to him? There was always a kid who needed someone to watch over him and it somehow ended up being Littlejohn's job.

"Where ya headin' Littlejohn; if you don't mind me askin'?"

"I'm headin' back to camp in California."

"Where in California?"

"Camp Roberts."

"Gee Littlejohn! I can't believe it, I'm heading there too. I just finished basic training and I was home on furlough. Would you mind if I sort of hung around with you?"

"Naw, I don't mind. In fact, I could use some company."

"Oh boy! Thanks a lot Littlejohn."

"What do you do in Springfield?"

"My family has a farm."

"What kind of crops do you grow?"

"Mostly corn but we also grow potatoes."

"Man could I go for some corn on the cob and a baked potato with butter and sour cream. I'm making myself hungry."

"I'll tell you one thing Billy, you'd only like our corn if you were a cow. The type of corn we grow is for cattle. Now, a baked potato with sour cream and butter sounds pretty good to me too."

The next three hours the two men talked about home and family. Billy talked about a girl he liked. He thought maybe when he got back home, he could start thinking seriously about the two of them.

...

It was about 4 o'clock when the conductor called that they would be making a stop at North Platte. The storm had grown into a white out. The engineer couldn't see anything, they would have to wait out the storm or at least until it wasn't snowing so hard.

Littlejohn had a big smile on his face. "This is wonderful Billy! I can't believe our luck, we are in Heaven. I've been waiting for this all day."

"What are you talking about, Littlejohn?"

"We're in North Platte and they have one heck of a canteen here."

As the train came to a stop, Littlejohn was practically pushing Billy off the train.

Across from the train station was a building with a large sign that read CANTEEN**.

"See the sign Billy?"

"Yeah I see it. They got anything to eat in there?"

"Are you kidding, this place is famous for all the food they have for us servicemen."

Littlejohn and Billy hurried towards the canteen.

"Hi boys, welcome to our canteen! I'm Rae Wilson***. Is there anything in particular that you are hungry for?"

Littlejohn and Billy looked at all the marvelous food that had been laid upon the counter.

Billy eyed a cake that reminded him of his mom's cakes. "I don't have a lot of money but I sure could go for a slice of that delicious looking coconut cake. How much is it?"

"You don't pay for this food, it's free for servicemen. How about starting with a sandwich? I bet you could go for a nice ham sandwich."

"That would be really great thank you, but I still would like a piece of that cake."

Littlejohn walked further down the counter looking at all the food.

A woman behind the counter gave Littlejohn a smile.

In a small voice she asked, "Private do you see anything you like?"

Littlejohn barely could open his mouth. He thought he was looking at an angel. The glow from the light made her hair look like copper as it tumbled around her shoulders. Her eyes were so expressive, like she knew what you were thinking before you said anything. She wasn't beautiful in the conventional way. She had an inner beauty.

He finally came down to earth and realized she had asked him a question. He could feel his face turning red.

"Um, I'm sorry. If it isn't any trouble ma'am, I could go for that sandwich over there."

"I'm not a ma'am, I'm just Marie. What's yours?"

"Littlejohn. I mean people call me Littlejohn, you know like in Robin Hood?"

He couldn't believe he had just said that. He was stumbling to find the right words. He gave her a shy smile.

"If, if you like, it's James."

"Well, I like I do like but I think James is a little too formal how about Jim?"

"Yea, that's fine, that's what my family calls me."

"Now Jim, besides the ham sandwich, what else would you like? I think you might be a chocolate cake man, am I right? "

Littlejohn was having a hard time keeping up with the conversation. He couldn't believe she was talking to him, no girl ever wanted to talk to him.

"Ah what was that? Did you say chocolate pie?"

"No I said cake, we don't have any chocolate pie."

Littlejohn's face turned red again. "Cake, a slice of cake that would be fine."

He looked around and saw Billy eating his sandwich with a lot of gusto. He also noticed that Billy hadn't taken his eye off the slice of cake.

Marie put the sandwich and cake on a tray. "Oh, I bet you would like a cup of coffee?"

"Coffee, yea coffee; that would be good. Thanks."

Marie filled up a cup of piping hot coffee and put it on his tray.

By the time Marie had finished helping Littlejohn, Rae had served four other soldiers.

"I guess there won't be any other soldiers until this white out blows over. Would you like some company while you're eating?"

"Thanks that would be nice."

As they sat down at a table, neither spoke. Finally the young girl spoke up.

"I'm sorry, I never know what to say after I ask the soldiers what they want to eat. You see, I am a bit shy and my mother thought this would help me get over it."

Littlejohn let out a breath that he had been holding. "I know what you mean. You get tongue-tied. I get that way sometimes too. You just don't know what to say."

Marie began to laugh. "When someone says tongue-tied, I get this picture in my head of a person whose tongue has a knot in it. I just think it's funny."

Littlejohn began to laugh too. "That is a funny picture."

"Are you from around here Marie?"

He couldn't believe what he just said. 'Of course, she is from here you idiot.'

"No, I'm from Madrid."

She waited for his response.

"Wow you're really far from home. It must be pretty different from where you come from."

She gave him a huge grin. "No not really. You see, I'm from Madrid, Nebraska. I wish I was from Madrid, Spain. It's just a little town south west of here. Right now I am staying with my grandparents. They are older and they wanted to help out, so I am helping out the canteen instead of them. But grandma gets up before the crack of dawn and makes some of the best biscuits you ever put in your mouth. She'll make 5 dozen and our neighbor brings them down here so our servicemen can have a nice breakfast."

All of a sudden Marie became quiet. "I've been doing all the talking now it's your turn. Where are you from?

Littlejohn could have listened to her talk all evening.

"You're right, I haven't said much. Well, have you ever heard of Springfield?"

Not wanting to interrupt him, Marie shook her head no.

"It's a small farming community. My dad has a farm and up until a four months ago, I helped him run it. Springfield's not too far. It's about two hundred sixty-five miles east of here. Springfield is twenty-five miles south of Omaha."

"Now that's where I'd like to go, Omaha! See the big city."

Littlejohn used to think that way too. Since he had been in the Army, he knew better. Omaha was tiny in comparison to cities like Los Angeles that had a million and a half people.

...

Time had flown by. It seemed like they had just sat down to talk but in reality, it had been two hours.

"I don't mean to be a bold girl but I was wondering if you were seeing anyone special?"

"You're not being bold at all. And the answer is no. Remember when I said I knew what you meant about being tongue-tied?"

"Yes, what about it?"

"I was talking about myself. You are the first girl I have ever felt truly at ease with from the first moment we met."

"Me too Jim, I felt the same way. That's why I asked."

"Marie would you write to me?"

"That's why I asked if you had anyone special. I was hoping you didn't because I wanted you to write to me and I would write to you."

Littlejohn smiled from ear to ear. He pulled out a small notebook and wrote out his address and tore out the sheet and gave it to her.

He then handed her his notebook. "Here write your name and address."

When she was done he looked at her handwriting. It was pretty, she had even made a heart over the "i" in Marie. It dawned on him that he didn't even know her last name until he had read it. Marie Jenson.

"Are you Norwegian or Swedish?"

"Does it make a difference?"

"Nope, not a bit."

"Well, in that case I'm Swedish."

"Oh my mother is gonna love you!"

As they sat happily next to each other, they heard a voice that was calling Littlejohn.

"Littlejohn, let's go. The conductor says the storm is just about over and he is getting ready to pull out. We gotta go!"

For the first time in Jim Littlejohn's life he didn't want to do what was expected of him. He didn't want to get on that train. He wanted to stay with Marie.

She knew he was thinking about going AWOL but she wasn't going to let him do it.

"Jim, let me get my coat and I'll walk over to the train with you."

She got up and walked over to the coat rack and found her coat.

She then ran back over to the counter and picked up a bag and placed some food into the bag.

Littlejohn had not moved, he just stood in the middle of the canteen. Marie walked towards Littlejohn and put her hand inside his.

"Jim it's time to go."

They walked out of the canteen and headed for the train.

"Promise you'll write."

"I promise. As soon as I get home tonight, I'll write you."

She began to hand him the bag but instead she put her arms around him.

"Promise me you'll take care of yourself and you'll be careful."

Littlejohn just nodded, he was afraid to say anything.

When the whistle blew, he knew he had to get on the train.

As he looked down at Marie, she looked up at him. It was now or never, he thought.

He gingerly picked her up and kissed her. He softly put her down. He then turned and climbed the train steps.

For a moment she thought he might turn around and come back to her but she knew that Billy needed him and before this war was over many others would need him too.

...

Littlejohn shook the snow off his coat and again sat down next to Billy.

"Littlejohn, you were right about that place."

Billy looked over at Littlejohn. He seemed miles away.

"Littlejohn, are you listening?"

"What did you say Billy?"

"I said that you were right about the canteen."

"I was?"

"Oh yea Heaven, he sighed under his breath. And I just met one of its angels."

Just as she promised, when Marie returned home, she began to write to her fella.

A smile played upon her face. 'Hey what a nice thought. I have a fella and his name is Jim Littlejohn.'

The End

* I thought the first name Kirby's Cowgirl's gave Littlejohn was perfect and therefore, I am using it as his name in my story.

**The North Platte Canteen was a railroad stop was completely manned by volunteers from North Platte, Nebraska and 125 surrounding towns. The canteen operated from December 25th, 1941 to April 1, 1946. The people provided refreshments and hospitality to soldiers who were traveling through the area on the way to war. From the day it opened until it closed, the canteen served 6 million troops.

***Rae Wilson was a 26 yr. old sales girl who came up with the idea of meeting each train. She got the merchants to donate items and the housewives to bake cakes and cookies. She then called on young women to help distribute the items.


End file.
